Penn State QB Drew Allar throws first INT, shows ‘resiliency’ with game-winning TD vs. Indiana

STATE COLLEGE — Before turning the corner in the south end zone tunnel and heading to the locker room, Drew Allar stopped in front of a camera and let out an emphatic scream.

Allar’s release of emotion, punctuated with a smile, was as a stark contrast to last week when he was wiping tears after a loss to Ohio State. This Saturday, after emerging with a last-gasp win over Indiana, Allar was in a far better mood.

Allar stepped up when Penn State needed him most. He had a moment in the 33-24 win — one he won’t soon forget and one that keeps slim College Football Playoff hopes alive.

Allar’s 57-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith gave the Nittany Lions a lead over Indiana with 1:33 left in regulation. It was the perfect throw at the perfect time. It was also proof that the 19-year-old sophomore is able to bounce back from a monumental mistake.

Before Allar’s dime to Lambert-Smith brought the house down, he quieted the crowd with his first career interception. It was a bad one, too. Pressed to make a play deep in Penn State’s territory, Allar felt the pressure on third down and tossed one into coverage. Indiana took advantage, kicking a game-tying field goal with less than 3 minutes left.

That’s what made Allar’s sideline dime on the next drive all the more impressive.

“It was awesome for Drew to deliver that ball in that situation and respond,” coach James Franklin said postgame. “I’m proud of him. That was a big play, and he showed a lot of resiliency.”

“At the end of the day, stuff happens. You have to flush it. You can’t dwell on the past,” Allar said. “We had another opportunity to go out there and win the game, and we did just that. That’s why we play football, to have opportunities like that, to go down and win a game.”

Now, should the Nittany Lions have been in that position to begin with? To have to go down and win a game late against Indiana, a 31-point underdog? No.

It was far from a clean performance from Penn State, Allar acknowledged. The defense allowed touchdowns of 90 and 69 yards. Daequan Hardy had a punt return touchdown erased on a penalty. The offense had a trio of three-and-outs against the Big Ten’s worst defense. At one point, Penn State’s ineptitude offensively drew boos from the Beaver Stadium crowd. For the most part, it was a sloppy and frustrating performance from the Nittany Lions.

That frustration compounded on Allar’s mistake. Up 24-21 late in the fourth quarter, all Penn State had to do was kill the clock. And, if it couldn’t do that, at least punt, flip the field and make it harder on the Hoosiers to go down and tie it up. Instead, No. 15 threw it up for grabs.

Allar recognized postgame that he “can’t put the ball in jeopardy” in situations like that. In retrospect, he said, he should have been smarter and taken the sack. It was his first interception in 311 attempts, the longest streak by any FBS quarterback to start a career.

When Allar returned to the sideline, though, he didn’t even know it was an interception. He was hit on the play and thought it fell incomplete until he saw the defense run out on the field. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I really just threw an interception right there,’” Allar recalled.

When he was on the sideline, watching the defense hold Indiana to a field goal, teammates came up to Allar to offer support and impart words of encouragement. Tight end Theo Johnson told him: “You’re the best in the country, and don’t forget it. That doesn’t define you.”

Lambert-Smith had a similar message: “We have 100% belief in you. We’ve got you. Shake it off.”

And boy did he.

After a couple of 10-yard gains by Kaytron Allen loosened up Indiana’s defense, Allar saw what he wanted. The Hoosiers came out in an aggressive single-safety look with that safety playing low. Allar knew Lambert-Smith with one-on-one coverage would be his top option. And he took it.

“I gave him a chance,” Allar said. “And the rest happened.”

The result was Penn State’s second-longest play from scrimmage this season, behind only Allar and Lambert-Smith’s 72-yard score in the season opener against West Virginia. The result was Penn State coming away with a win it desperately needed.

With the narrow victory, the Nittany Lions rebounded from their deflating loss to Ohio State and moved to 7-1 on the season. A trip to Maryland is up next before Michigan, the two-time Big Ten champ, visits Beaver Stadium on Nov. 11. What happens from here, who knows?

But in the short term, the Nittany Lions had to have Saturday. And in the long term, perhaps, Allar had to have that late-game experience — a mistake followed by triumph.